TOEFL iBT, Independent Writing, Which source do you feel is more important, books or experience? - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Some people stress the importance of learning from books, while others feel that first-hand experience is far more important and valid than knowledge gained from books. Discuss the differences between the two sources of learning and compare the merits of knowledge obtained from experience and that gained from books. Which source do you feel is more important, and why?

☆ Let’s think

This writing topic has three parts. The first part introduces two sources of leaning: reading and experience. The second sentence gives you two assignments. You are required to 1) tell the difference between the two and 2) compare the good things about knowledge gained from them. The last sentence is a question about which is more important. Thus, as well as writing about the source you think is more important, you are supposed to deal with the other way, which means that you have to deal with both.

Most of us value both kinds of knowledge and prioritize either or both depending on what you want to know and the conditions you are in. If you want to know what it is like to be on Mars, you will consult books on Mars because you cannot go to the planet and see and feel the actual environment there. Also, you would not want to experiment with all the elements on the periodic table unless you want to be a chemist. Reading is enough and efficient to gain general knowledge about them, especially when some of them have very nasty properties. If you are interested in skiing, you might give it a try and see what it is like to go down the snow slope with long thin boards. The difficulty and excitement of the activity cannot be learned without actually doing it. Still when you are interested in a particular place, you do research about it beforehand and then visit there to see some part of it with your own eyes.

Now what about gaining knowledge about globalization? The subject has many aspects and people who read have a lot to talk about it. However, if they have never put their feet into the shoes of the countless numbers of people suffering from its results, it could hardly be said that they really know what globalization is. On the other hand, if you have made friends with someone whose father has lost his job because of free trade treaties, which is the driving force of globalization, you would sincerely feel that something is wrong with this on-going change and might feel the urge to do something. However, if you do not read, you would not see the whole picture of globalization and would never know what is causing its problems and how it can be fixed. Furthermore, if people who have seen only the good results of globalization never read about bad results of it, they might not question the goodness of globalization. In these cases, it seems that reading supplements experience which is the main source of our decisions.

☆ Hints for points

♦learning from books: Humankind has dominated the earth by sharing knowledge, and revolutions related to information-sharing always expanded our ranges of activities. Gaining knowledge by reading is taking advantage of the shared assets of information humans accumulated through thousands of years. The merits of knowledge gained by reading are …

1.    it is of wider-range, and relatively less slanted (less personal) and more accurate than knowledge based on personal experiences.

2.    it is knowledge about things that cannot be learned by actually experiencing them.

3.    it is gained in rather short time compared to actually trying everything.

♦learning through experience: As saying goes, seeing is believing. Hands-on experience is the data obtained by your own senses and processed by yourself. In terms of reality, no other information can beat your own experience. The merits of the knowledge obtained through experience are …

1.    it is convincing to you and stays in your memory easily and forever.

2.    it motivates you to learn more or to take actions from the bottom of your heart.

3.    it is often not written in books and cannot be copied by others.

☆ One paragraph essay

Let’s write a one-paragraph essay on this topic before writing a full essay. You could use it as the framework of your full essay.

Sample 1

【Introduction】 Experience is more important in learning because it is connected to your heart.

【Knowledge from books】 Knowledge gained from books is extensive and less partial.

【Knowledge from experience】 Knowledge from experience is pure sense data.

【Your decision on which is more important】I think knowledge from experience is more important because without it you cannot organize other information.

【Counterargument】Knowledge gained from experience lacks balance in terms of forming a more accurate view, but as long as you keep supplement it by reading or listening to others, you have less chances of becoming biased and making bad decisions while learning is difficult without motivation, which is kindled by experience.

【Conclusion】 Experience is more important than books for you to approach study actively.

Sample 2

【Introduction】 Books are more accurate, and thus more important, than experience.

【Knowledge from experience】 Knowledge from experience is practical.

【Knowledge from books】We read books to know something better.

【Your decision on which is more important】Knowledge from experience is destined to be wrong because an individual can see only part of the whole picture.

【Counterargument】Information provided by books can be wrong, but since it has usually been exposed to examinations of more than one heads, it is closer to the truth than information gained through experience, which is always based on data collected and processed by one head.

【Conclusion】 Books are more important than experience as they help good understanding.

Sample 3

【Introduction】 Knowledge based on experience and that from books compensate for each other.

【Knowledge from books】 Learners are usually required to read some kind of books, which provide them with comprehensive information in large quantities methodically.

【Knowledge from experience】 However, in any field of discipline, students are required to try out what they have learned from books in practice.

【Your decision on which is more important】 Both books and experience are necessary to build a well-rounded view on something. No one can know something without a real contact with it, but no one can also reach the universal view of it without reading.

【Counterargument】Some scientists and artists come up with great ideas with scant experience. However, they are exceptional people with extraordinary imagination that enables them to experience reality through reading, and their imagination has developed from their experience. No one can form an idea without sense data, experience. On the other hand, it is true that there exist people who leave great works without any proper education, but the assumption is that they could have been even more successful had they had more resources in the field of their interest other than their own personal experiences.

【Conclusion】 Experience and books complement each other in learning.

Your one-paragraph essay

【Introduction】

【Merits of knowledge gained from books】

【Merits of knowledge gained from experience】

【Your decision on which is more important】

【Counterargument】

【Conclusion】

☆ Essay for Ideas and Expressions

Barron’s Writing for the TOEFL iBT, p. 248

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